Going for a burn: Driver watches in despair as £150,000 Lamborghini Gallardo bursts into flames
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 5:34 PM on 25th July 2011
The driver may have hoped to burn rubber when he took a supercar for a spin - but this was unlikely to have been what he meant.
A drive through the Scottish Highlands came to an abrupt for one motorist when his £150,000 Lamborghini Gallardo burst into flames.
The driver was motoring through the spectacular landscape on Saturday when smoke started pouring from the engine bay of his blue supercar.
He quickly pulled over near a hospital in Fort William and rushed inside to get a fire extinguisher.
Before and after: The Lamborghini went up in flames (above) but was extinguished without any casualties (below) - except the car itself
But by the time he returned the vehicle was well alight and he could only watch as his car was reduced to a smouldering wreck within five minutes.
This is the second time in the last week that a Gallardo has burst into flames without any apparent cause, after a car being test-driven by a Norwegian rap star caught fire.
Eyewitness Robbie Jordan, who was visiting relatives in the area, said: 'We came round the corner and drove past it as it had just started smoking.
'Within two minutes, there was a lick of flames and within five minutes it was totally ablaze.
'The owner just stood by holding his head in his hands. I've heard of money to burn but this was ridiculous. That was £150,000 worth of hand-made art and it just went up in flames.'
The car's owner - thought to be a Scot in his 40s - later stopped at a local petrol station and revealed his misfortune to shocked staff.
Ruaridh MacPhee, who works at the BP garage, said: 'I asked him how his day had gone when he said his car had burst into flames. I couldn't believe it when he told me it was a Lamborghini. He was very calm about it.'
A fire crew from Fort William Fire Station, which is half a mile from the scene, attended and extinguished the fire. The wreckage of the car was towed away by a local garage.
One employee said: 'The thing is just knackered now. There's nothing left of it. It's a real shame to see such a beautiful car in that condition, but sometimes these things just happen.'
This incident is strikingly similar to the case of Tshawe Baqwa, a rapper famous in his native Norway, who was test-driving a Lamborghini Gallardo in Oslo when he stopped off at McDonald's.
Between ordering his meal at the drive-thru and going to pick it up the car caught fire. Baqwa jumped out and watched the car go up in flames. As in this case, the Lamborghini was destroyed within minutes.
Not the first time: Another Gallardo went up in flames outside a Norwegian McDonald's last week
Sportscar to scrap metal: Despite the best efforts of firemen the Lamborghini Gallardo was destroyed
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